# 1980–81 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team

The 1980–81 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was coached by Digger Phelps and was ranked in the Associated Press poll for the entirety of the season. As a 2 seed, the Fighting Irish defeated the 10 seed James Madison in the second round, 54–45. Notre Dame would fall to BYU in the 1981 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Regular Season ||||||
| November 29* | No. 10 | No. 6 UCLA | L 81–94 | 0–1 | Pauley Pavilion (12,321) Los Angeles, CA |
| December 2 | No. 13 | Montana State | W 89–68 | 1–1 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 4 | No. 13 | TCU | W 79–63 | 2–1 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 6 | No. 13 | Cal Poly (Pomona) | W 76–50 | 3–1 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 9 | No. 9 | at No. 7 Indiana | W 68–64 | 4–1 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 22 | No. 8 | Valparaiso | W 69–56 | 5–1 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| December 27 | No. 8 | Kentucky | W 67–61 | 6–1 | Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky |
| January 4 | No. 4 | at Davidson | W 87–67 | 7–1 | Johnston Gym Davidson, NC |
| January 6 | No. 5 | at Villanova | W 94–65 | 8–1 | Villanova Field House Villanova, Pennsylvania |
| January 10 | No. 5 | Marquette | L 52–54 | 8–2 | MECCA Arena Milwaukee, WI |
| January 13 | No. 7 | San Francisco | L 63–66 | 8–3 | War Memorial Gymnasium San Francisco, California |
| January 17 | No. 7 | Hofstra | W 65–55 | 9–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| January 19 | No. 13 | Fordham | W 67–61 | 10–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| January 21 | No. 13 | at San Francisco | W 80–75 | 11–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| January 24 | No. 13 | at No. 10 Maryland | W 73–70 | 12–3 | Cole Field House College Park, Maryland |
| January 27 | No. 8 | Cornell | W 80–58 | 13–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| January 31 | No. 8 | at South Carolina | W 94–84 | 14–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 2 | No. 9 | Saint Mary's | W 94–63 | 15–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 4 | No. 9 | at La Salle | W 60–59 | 16–3 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 8 | No. 9 | at UCLA | L 50–51 | 16–4 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 10 | No. 12 | at Boston | W 89–63 | 17–4 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 14 | No. 12 | N. C. State | W 71–55 | 18–4 | Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC |
| February 16 | No. 11 | Fairfield | W 57–55 | 19–4 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 22 | No. 11 | No. 1 Virginia | W 57–56 | 20–4 | Rosemont Horizon Rosemont, IL |
| February 26 | No. 6 | Saint Francis | W 87–71 | 21–4 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| February 28* | No. 6 | Dayton | W 70–57 | 22–4 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN |
| March 8 | No. 6 | at No. 2 DePaul | L 64–74 | 22–5 | Rosemont Horizon Rosemont, Illinois |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| March 14 | (2 E) No. 5 | (10 E) James Madison NCAA Tournament • Second Round | W 54–45 | 23–5 | Providence Civic Center Providence, RI |
| March 19 | (2 E) No. 5 | at (6 E) No. 16 BYU NCAA Tournament • Sweet Sixteen | L 50–51 | 23–6 | Omni Coliseum (15,461) Atlanta, Georgia |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. ||||||

## Players selected in NBA drafts

| Round | Pick | Player | NBA Club |
| 1 | 6 | Orlando Woolridge | Chicago Bulls |
| 1 | 12 | Kelly Tripucka | Detroit Pistons |
| 2 | 25 | Tracy Jackson | Boston Celtics |
| 8 | 167 | Gilbert Salinas | Atlanta Hawks |